Arnold Schwarzenegger

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s campaign, Californians for Schwarzenegger, will release its first Spanish-language advertisement Monday. The 60-second radio ad will air on Spanish-language stations across the state. The campaign did not make available information on the size of the media buy or how long the ad would run.

Title: “El Hombre” (The Man)

Producer: Don Sipple

The script: With the same movie-style music playing in the background as in Schwarzenegger’s English-language ads, an announcer says: “Arnold Schwarzenegger, like so many of us, came to this country with a dream. He began working in construction, laying bricks, and, thanks to his determination and goals, he achieved his objectives -- first in bodybuilding, then in the world of film.”

“California and the United States allowed him to fulfill his dreams, and during the last 25 years he has been supporting our community. He has been an ambassador to the Special Olympics, serving our community in the nation and the world. Arnold Schwarzenegger established the Inner-City Games Foundation, which has served over a quarter-million disadvantaged young people in 15 cities across the nation -- and in East Los Angeles at Hollenbeck Youth Center -- providing after-school activities. Last year, Arnold wrote and sponsored Proposition 49, the After School Education and Safety Initiative, in all of California. And now, Arnold is running for governor to change California, to rescue our schools, to get us better jobs, to return us a government with fiscal responsibility and restore confidence in our leaders. Join Arnold, and let’s rescue California.”

At the ad’s conclusion, Schwarzenegger speaks briefly in Spanish: “Paid for by Californians for Schwarzenegger.”

Accuracy: Schwarzenegger did have a bricklaying company and experienced some financial hardship when he came to the U.S. in 1968, but his experience as an immigrant was hardly typical. He came as a successful athlete -- he had already won Mr. Europe in bodybuilding -- and a promoter set him up with jobs. Schwarzenegger did serve as ambassador to the Special Olympics and the ad accurately describes his role in the Inner-City Games Foundation, which originated in East Los Angeles. But although he supported the successful Proposition 49, the initiative has yet to produce any after-school programs. That’s because the initiative is tied to the state’s financial prospects; with the state running a budget deficit, Proposition 49’s mandate to fund after-school programs has yet to kick in.

Analysis: All of Schwarzenegger’s English-language ads feature the candidate speaking. But Schwarzenegger does not speak much Spanish. His Austrian accent can be heard only at the end of the ad to identify its funding, declaring “Pagada por Californians for Schwarzenegger.” Schwarzenegger’s Democratic rival, Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, and other politicians have accused the candidate of being anti-Latino because of his support for Proposition 187 (which denied public services to undocumented immigrants) and his opposition to a new law allowing undocumented immigrants to have driver’s licenses. The ad is an attempt to trump such criticism through biography -- Schwarzenegger is an immigrant who has been active in philanthropy in Latino areas.

Los Angeles Times